1. US Involvement In Vietnam
Yet another way the US fought Communism during the Cold War
2. Reasons the US became involved in Vietnam
1) Cold war policy of containing communism
2) Domino theory – The idea that if one country in Asia becomes
communist then others will fall as well
3) The French quit trying to keep Vietnam as a colony after being defeated
by communist forces at Den Bien Phu
4) Gulf of Tonkin resolution
--N. Vietnamese attack on a US ship in Gulf of Tonkin
(later it was proven that no such attack ever happened)
--Congress authorizes President to be able to send troops into
combat without Congressional approval or oversight
3. People to know:
1) Ho Chi Minh
--Communist leader of North Vietnam
-- he wanted to unite North and South Vietnam into one country
2) Ngo Dinh Diem
--corrupt leader of South Vietnam
--the US supported him because he wasn’t communist
--later the US government helped participate in his overthrow
3) The Vietcong– South Vietnamese people who wanted to be united
with North Vietnam
4. More people to know:
4) President Kennedy – sent advisors and special forces to Vietnam (Green
Berets) but didn’t want to send large numbers of soldiers
5) President Johnson– sent large numbers of US soldiers to Vietnam
--his failure to win the war probably is the reason he did not run
for re-election in 1968
6) President Nixon– won election of 1968 based on his promise to end
the Vietnam War
-- one of his strategies was Vietnamization– giving control of the war
back to the Vietnamese
5. US Strategy in Vietnam
It wasn’t about taking territory.
1) Draft a large number of US men just out of high school
2) Search and destroy– basically seeking out Communist forces and
fighting them
3) Agent Orange– way to defoliate the jungles so the North Vietnamese
Army and Vietcong had nowhere to hide
(made by the same people who make the weed killer Roundup)
4)Napalm – a bomb with jellied gasoline so it would stick to targets
(unfortunately it also stuck to people)
6. Things don’t go so well for the US
1) Tet Offensive– coordinated attacks against US installations in
Vietnam. After this battle, most people felt the US could not win
2) My Lai Massacre – US soldiers kill unarmed women and children
3) As people watched coverage from the war nightly on television in
their living rooms, they began to not want to be involved
4) The Pentagon Papers are released– basically they are documents
stating that the US has no intention of ever leaving Vietnam
5) Led by the Hippies, Americans believe the US government is no
longer credible and start to protest the war
